Avicia
by ErykahMiszti
Summary: Scully has recurring dreams of being burnt alive, then burns start to develop on her body. (MSR) References to 'The Field Where I


TITLE: Avicia AUTHOR: Erykah Miszti EMAIL: Erykah@hamadryad.com RATING: R (for minor swearing & content) CLASSIFICATION: XAR (Mulder/Scully) SUMMARY: Scully has recurring dreams of being burnt alive, then burns start to develop on her body. SPOILERS: The Field Where I Died (although it's set in 1999) NOTES: Some of the history in this story is true. Places spoken about do exist and are mostly referred to by their old names. There are beliefs taken from various myths and legends but in the main it's pure fiction. Mentions of Jesus relating to England are taken from gossip and hearsay rather than prescribed historical fact, this may or may not make them less valid. No disrespect is intended towards Jesus or to any believers by using this info. Any resemblance to any other persons, organisations or religious groups is purely coincidence and no harm is intended. 

X-FILES DISCLAIMER - See end of story. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Avicia (1/5): Combustion 

She was hot. She was *burning* hot. Her legs felt as if they were going to explode. She tried to move. Her hands were tied behind her back. She was tied to something solid. She could smell burning. The acrid stench of burning flesh. "Avicia!" She heard a familiar male voice call. "Avicia!" 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

Scully's Bedroom 

Scully woke up in bed. Her breathing was harsh in the quiet of the room. She was still far too hot, much hotter than the November night warranted. She had long since kicked off the bed covers, which were lying in an untidy heap by the side of the bed. Scully wiped some of the sweat off her forehead and flicked her soaking wet hair back off her face. Damn strands were clinging horribly to her neck. She closed her eyes momentarily and tried to regulate her over-fast breathing. Opening her eyes again, Scully rolled her head to the side and focused on the digital clock. 

01:43 

Too early to have a shower but she wouldn't be able to sleep if she didn't. Forcing muscles to work, she climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom. She tried to avoid thinking about the dream. This was the sixth night running that she'd had the same dream - sometimes there was fire and smoke too - but it wasn't about bright lights or anything that seemed related to the missing time in her life and therefore it was just a dream. Why would it be anything else? A thought broke through her structured block. Avicia. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

Thursday 01:50 

Scully slipped off the pajamas, absently rubbing an itchy area of her right calf as she did so. Flipping the shower on, she stepped under the soothing stream. To sleep-heavy, sweat-soaked limbs the cool water was deliciously welcome and to the scalp under her clumped-up hair it was a blessed relief. Closing her eyes dreamily and letting the water run soothingly over her body, she let herself drift beyond the reality of it being early in the morning in Alexandria and a workday at that. At length it became too much to stand under the stream anymore and she shut off the water. 

The towel was soft but, as Scully rubbed it over her calf, she realised that there was a slow ache building there. Taking the towel away, Scully examined her leg and found a large area of reddened flesh. She racked her brain for when it might have occurred but could think of nothing. As she looked more closely at the irritation it came to resemble a burn, changing and shifting even before her eyes. The skin broke and pus flowed from inside, over the towel and over her hands. The redness stretched over her entire calf now and was still spreading up her thigh and towards her ankle. It was sore and itchy but she fought the urge to scratch it. She could do nothing as the burning seemed to eat through her leg. The pain became indescribable and yet oddly removed from reality. Her breathing became rapid and her heart was pounding against her ribs. Her eyes widened in horror, she could now see bone through the flesh. Stark white bone. Blood and blackened flesh liquefied and poured from her leg across the towel, then in thick drops to the carpet. She could almost smell the charring of the flesh. The bone began to turn black. 

Scully thought in panic. 

Still clutching the towel like a security blanket, Scully stumbled back into the bedroom. She couldn't feel her right leg anymore. The burning was spreading all over her body. She could feel the heat searing her and roasting the flesh on her bones. It was a long tumble onto the bed and the bouncing of the springs added to her pain. Her head hit the pillow. Although her nostrils were filled with stinking greasy black smoke, she could smell burning material. The sheets. Thought processes shut down in her head and Scully lost consciousness. Her final thought was of Kieron. She didn't have time to wonder what it meant. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

Mulder's Apartment 07:40 

Mulder was asleep. It was nice. Sleep was nice. He was dreaming that he was floating above a garden and there were flowers dancing on the breeze around him. Samantha - his little sister still as she had been on that fateful day - smiled at him from her place in the air a few metres away. An awful buzzing noise penetrated the perfect simplicity of the dream. Mulder groaned as he woke up into the deep gloom of his apartment. Reality. Shit. The noise was the phone ringing insistently. 

Mulder thought with a start and jumped to answer it. How he knew it was her was something that he never questioned. "Help!" Her voice gasped from the other end of the line before he had a chance to say a word. "Help, please.." "I'm on my way." He replied, already moving to find clothes. 

***End of Part one 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Avicia (2/5): Burn Baby 

Scully's Apartment 08:01 

Mulder didn't bother knocking, he just let himself in. "Scully?" He called as he closed the door after himself. There was no answer. "Scully?" He called, walking through the quiet apartment. 

"Kieron!" Scully's voice suddenly screamed. "Kieron! Help me!" Mulder drew his Glock and placed the sound as coming from the bedroom. He crept around the door to find Scully lying naked on the bed with hideous burns covering her body. "Kieron!" She murmured as she writhed against the pain. "Kieron!" Over and over the word was torn from her. 

Mulder placed the gun on the table and went over to Scully. Her face was the only part of her that didn't have any burns and so he touched a hand to her cheek. "Scully? Scully, can you hear me?" He asked and her eyes snapped open. They were clear and sparkling, brimming with recognition and yet there was something strange in those depths. "Kieron, don't let them kill me." She begged reaching for him. "Scully, who's Kieron?" He asked, trying not to touch her anywhere that might hurt her. Tears formed in the azure blue eyes. "You're denying me!" She sobbed. "I expected it of the others, but never you..." He almost had the feeling that he wasn't talking to Scully anymore, but to someone else. He placed a hand to her forehead hunting for a fever but, while she was warm, there was no sign of a fever to warrant her behaviour. He looked down her body at the burns, forcing himself to ignore the fact that she was naked and concentrate on the painful wounds instead. They actually seemed to be diminishing in scale - disappearing rather than appearing - but he was no doctor. She needed a doctor. "How did this happen to you?" He asked her desperately, as he began hunting in his pockets for his cell-phone. "They burnt me Kieron. They burnt me." Those eyes were too much for his sanity. It was a relief that he seemed to have forgotten his phone and would have to leave to use hers. He stood up and turned his back on the scene. "I'll get a doctor." He murmured and left the room. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

Northeast Georgetown Medical Centre 10:58 

Mulder sat on the brown plastic chair with his head in his hands. "Mr Mulder...?" A voice said from above him and he looked up at a middle-aged woman in a white coat. "I'm Doctor Thorley." She told him. "How is she?" Mulder demanded, standing up. "Miss Scully is in remarkably good health, considering her condition..." She answered. "How bad are the burns...?" He asked. Doctor Thorley shrugged. "Right, the burns." She paused to draw a long breath. "I observed Miss Scully's burns when she was brought in, my diagnosis was that they were first degree, although the paramedics described them as second degree. However..." She broke off and shrugged. "I have no explanation for it. All the burns appear to have healed in the last two hours. I'll be discharging her later today as there's now no reason to keep her in." "Healed?" Mulder asked with a frown. "What do you mean, healed?" "Exactly that. Miss Scully has no burns on her body at the present time. Now, I have not the slightest idea how that can be. If you can offer any explanation I, for one, would be glad to hear it." 

Mulder rubbed at his nose in confusion. "Can I see her?" He asked. "Yeah sure. Your name wouldn't be Kieron, would it?" "No, why?" "She's been asking for this Kieron ever since she was brought in." 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

Mulder pulled aside the blue curtain, walked through and immediately closed it behind him. "Hi there." Her voice said from the bed. As soon as he looked at her he could see that what the doctor said was true. There was not a mark on her skin. He smiled in response to her smile. "How you feeling?" He asked as he sat on the bed next to her. "Foolish." She replied. "What am I doing here?" "You don't remember?" She shook her head. "You called me this morning, when I got to your apartment you were in bed covered in burns. "Burns? But I'm not burnt." "You also kept asking for someone called Kieron." He stated flatly, upset that she hadn't mentioned someone who was obviously important to her. "I don't know any Kieron." She answered with a frown. "I was burnt?" "You really don't know a Kieron?" Jealously was eating him badly. "No, I really don't know a Kieron." She countered making eye contact. "I really don't." She insisted. "You've been calling for him for hours." "According to you, I've also been burnt but I'm not now." She said sarcastically. "You *were* burnt, the doctor will back me up on that." He paused to chew on his lip. "What do you remember happening last night?" 

Scully broke eye contact and shrugged against the pillow. "I watched TV, tried to read a book, then went to bed. I think I took a shower at some point..." "Any dreams? Nightmares?" Mulder cut in. "Are you trying to analyze me?" She asked, eyeing him warily. "Just trying to help." He responded with a laconic smile. "Ok-a-a-y," She drew the word out. "I did have a dream as it happens, but it doesn't mean anything." "Dreams always mean something Scully." Mulder countered with a broadening of the smile. "Even if it's only your subconscious working itself out." "This one is pretty weird..." "Ooooh Good!" Mulder commented, rubbing his hands together with exaggerated glee. "...You're gonna take this the wrong way. I know it." "I promise I wont." He put his hand on his heart and put on the 'puppy-face'. "Promise." Scully didn't buy it because of that. "I'm burning." She stated, her trust in him was more than that silly face he pulled. "What?" His interest was piqued. "In the dreams, I'm burning." "You've had more than one of these dreams?" He asked thoughtfully and she nodded. "Define burning." "Burning, how many ways can you burn? There's flames and smoke. My legs burn first, I remember that. Oh yeah, I'm tied to something, something pretty solid." Her speech stilled as she contemplated what she could remember. "There was a voice in the last one." "Male? Female?" He prompted. "Male." She answered. "It screamed out a word, over and over, but I can't remember the word." 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

Scully's Apartment 16:36 

"There's no clear definition of what something seen in a dream may actually mean. It's largely based on an individual's own psychological make-up, no matter what the books say." "Darn, you mean I spent $14:95 on 'Dreams: A Practical Guide To Interpreting Your Soul' for nothing." Scully told him sardonically. "There's several ways to approach it Scully." Mulder replied with a smile. "You're tied up in the dream, which removes your ability to control the situation. That could relate to a personal fear of not being in control. Then there's the fire, which can be positive or negative, a cleansing influence or symbolic of a fear of something unknown." He paused to shrug and smile. "Or we could take your dream literally." "Literally?" She questioned with a worried expression. "You wont like my suggestion." He said with a grin. She raised a skeptical eyebrow in anticipation. "Past life memory manifesting itself as a dream having been triggered by a traumatic event in this lifetime." He replied. Scully sucked her breath in over her teeth. "You're right. I don't like it." She broke the eye contact. "Come on..." He began. "So how do you explain the amazing appearing/disappearing burns?" She asked instead. "Psychosomatic." He stated. "Second degrees burns? Psychosomatic?" She was incredulous. "Like stigmata." He answered nodding. "I thought you didn't believe in stigmata." "With regard to their religious significance, I don't, but I believe that some people can bring the wounds on with the power of belief." He replied laconically. "And you think that I might have brought these burns on myself by believing in my dream?" The skepticism was like acid. "Yeah, remember that case with those Vietnam vets who hadn't slept in 24 years. They had internal wounds with no external source. One of the men was *making* the others believe and their beliefs were killing them." "I never completely bought that explaination Mulder." Scully commented. "And what about this Kieron person?" "He could have been responsible whatever happened to you in the past life you're remembering." Mulder suggested. "Mulder, it's impossible." She enunciated the words at him. "You want your medical records from the hospital. You were admitted with first degree burns and discharged four hours later without a mark on you. The paramedics told me here that they were *second* degree burns. It doesn't sound possible, but it happened and the sooner you face up to it, the sooner we can sort it out." "You want me to subscribe to any crackpot theory just to reassure myself!" Their eyes locked into battle. "Why can't you just believe in this? Even when it happens to you, you still refuse to believe." He sounded tired suddenly. "I'm gonna go get some sleep." She said dismissively. "If you wanna stay you know where everything is." She left. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

"Avicia!" The voice called out desperately. "Avicia!" 

The fire licked around her thighs now. The heat was intense. Unbelievably intense. She struggled, still attempting to free herself. Her flesh was burning. Unpleasant tinglings spread all over her body. She was scalding hot. She was shivering. Gasping for breath, but each inhalation was greasy with her own burning flesh. A familiar voice, different from the one yelling 'Avicia', asked her a question. She couldn't hear it for the roar of the flames. The answer was yes. "Yes!" She yelled at the man, who was a dim grey silhouette beyond the brightness of the red, gold and orange of the fire. He asked the same question again and again, each time she knew the answer had to be yes. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" She repeated endlessly. "Kieron!" She called to another figure she could see now. He was being held back from the fire by two other men. "Avicia!" The voice called and she knew it was him calling. "Kieron!" She called back. The fire was so hot and the pain so constant that she felt detached from it. In an abstract way she could feel it eating through the lower half of her body, sucking the life out of her limbs. Then a sliver of fire jumped up and caught her hair. The new pain was different to before. More real. The thought finally took shape. Death by burning. Eternal damnation. She would never see Kieron or the others again. The shadow man repeated his question. She knew that the answer should be yes. "No!" She screamed instead. "No! I repent! I do not believe! I do not believe!" The sound broke from her throat in harsh sobs as the fire in her hair spread to her scorch a trail across her face and her neck. "Avicia!" The man she knew was Kieron screamed as he fell to his knees, dragging his captors with him. He was crying. "Kieron." She whispered before the fire began to burn away her throat. "I do not believe. I do not believe." 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

Scully's Apartment 22:13 

Mulder stared at the tape recorder lying on the table. It was exactly what he'd remembered as being on the tape and it scared him more than he'd ever been scared before. Even more than in the box car when the fire was behind him threatening to consume him. Even more than when Scully had been missing. Even more than when he'd found out about Melissa, only to have her die. This was scarier. 

"Kieron!" Scully screamed from the bedroom and Mulder's head snapped up. "No! No! I repent! I do not believe! I do not believe!" 

The harshly shrieked words were the greatest torture and sent him running into the bedroom. 

Inside the room was dimly lit, the drapes closed shut blocking out the moonlight. The only light came from out in the hallway and it meant that Mulder's shadow was cast across the room and across the figure lying on the bed. She held her hands behind her back as if they were tied that way and struggled weakly as if to free them. "I don't believe." She was saying. "I don't believe. I don't believe. I don't believe." Softly whispered over and over as she moved. As he got closer to the bed, Mulder could see the redness spreading across her visible body - she was wearing pajamas this time - and in particular a nasty patch across her throat. He sat next to her and touched her forehead to wake her. She whimpered. "I don't believe." She muttered as he ran a gentle hand over her skin. "Scully?" He said softly to wake her. "Scul..." He paused and thought of the tape. "Avicia?" He said instead. She whimpered once more. "Avicia?" He repeated. The eyes slowly opened and focused on him. "Mulder, what...?" She huskily demanded, sitting up. As she did so she realised the pain she was in trying to speak and clasped a hand to her throat. Mulder's faint intake of breath caused her to look at her hand. Her wrist was encircled with a deep red gash as if her hands had been tied with abrasive rope. The other was the same. "I had the dream." She said flatly. Mulder nodded. "What was I saying?" She asked, although she already thought she knew. He looked away. "You were saying 'I don't believe'." He replied, his hands apparently had become very interesting to stare at. "I think I know what's happening." He said and started to stand up. "I'll be right back." He left. 

Scully sat against the headboard staring at the open doorway Mulder had walked out of. She remembered the dream. She remembered all of it this time. The fire. The Shadow Man. Kieron. Her throat was still sore and the abrasions on her wrists were throbbing as if to prove that they were real and not figments of the imagination. She already knew that, she just didn't want to believe it. Suddenly the light in the doorway was blocked off. Scully wasn't scared or surprised to look up and see Mulder towering over her. He sat down again and placed a cassette recorder between them. 

"There's no easy way to do this." He said regretfully and sighed deeply. "I want you to listen to this." Scully frowned at him but he didn't look at her. He pressed the button on the tape player. 

For a few seconds there was silence. Then came the voice of man she didn't recognise. "What year is it?" "By the imposed calendar," Mulder's voice replied steadily. "It is eleven-hundred and twenty-one years after the death of their Christ." "What is your name?" The man asked and there was a long pause. "By my Christian name, I am Kieron." Mulder's voice replied and Scully surpressed a gasp but it wasn't as much of a shock as she pretended. "But in the other language I am the Black Fox, the Merlin of the Circle of Truth." In the room Scully listened intently as the breathing on the tape became ragged. He gasped. "No. No!" "What's happening?" The calm therapist's voice had risen a little. "Avicia!" Mulder's voice gasped and Scully's eyes flew to the Mulder in the room to find him looking at her. Their eyes locked. "Avicia!" The voice on the tape said. "Calm down, you're safe." The soothing voice attempted. "Return to your..." "They're burning her!" Mulder's voice gasped on the tape. Scully's eyes held Mulder's in the dim bedroom. "No! Avicia!" Then there was a single intake of breath, an unsteady gasp of shock. "Scully!" Then there was just the ragged breathing and an attempt to control it. "Are you alright?" The therapist asked. "I...uh..." Came Mulder's voice at length. "I can't...can we stop? I can't do this anymore." The tape ended and Mulder broke the eye contact with Scully to turn it off. 

***End of Part Two 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Avicia (3/5): Something 

Scully's Apartment 

"When?" Scully asked into the intense silence which followed the end of the tape recording. "After..." Mulder stopped to clear his throat. "After..." "Melissa Reedell...?" Scully cut in insightfully and Mulder nodded. "I had to know more...to search for..." He shrugged depreciatively. "...Something." He pointed to the tape player. "After that one..." He sighed. "I snapped out of it and I couldn't go back under." 

Scully hung her head. She didn't want to believe it. "That's what the voice was saying wasn't it?" Mulder asked and Scully looked over at him. "Avicia?" Their eyes locked as he said the word. Scully nodded. "It was your name. Your name in that lifetime." "No." Scully shook her head vehemently denying it. Mulder clasped her shoulders roughly and forced her to look at him. "You can't deny it this time." He stated firmly. "I recorded that tape years ago and you never knew about it. I didn't know about your dreams until last night. That's *proof* Scully. It's absolute proof." "Proof of what?" She exclaimed. "Mulder, you claimed you were Merlin!" "Not The Merlin Scully - not Merlin as in King Arthur - *a* Merlin. It was a title, like a priest or a holy man." He clarified. "And the 'Circle of Truth'? That's a little convient isn't it?" She countered sarcastically. Mulder sighed. "I haven't been able to find out anything about them but records for non-Christian groups in 1121 are a little patchy! That's why members of the group would have been burnt, they would have been accused of being witches." "You're seriously saying that you think I was burnt as a witch?" Scully felt her heart sinking. She did not believe. Mulder nodded sadly. "Yes and I was forced to watch without being able to help you." He looked so serious when he said it but Scully just frowned and gave a sardonic smile. "That's 800 years of guilt you're claiming there." She pointed out. Mulder ignored the statement. "You need to go for regression Scully." "No way." She said immediately. "You *have* to." He grabbed her arm and held her wrist in front of her face. The welts were going down but there was still a band of contused tissue around the entirety of her wrist. "That's gonna keep happening until you face it." He dropped her arm. "I don't believe in regression Mulder." She sighed. "It's all fantasy." "And I suppose that bruise and those burns are fantasy too." He shook his head. "Look Scully, what does it matter if it's fantasy. If you play it out with someone it shouldn't matter whether it's the truth or not. It'll get it out of your system. You *have* to do it because you can't go on like this." "No, I don't believe in it." She replied firmly. "Fine." Mulder said as he stood up and walked away. Scully was shocked. "Where are you going?" She demanded. "Home." He stated. "Since none of this is real, you don't need me here to protect you." "Mulder..." She called but he left the room. She collapsed back onto the bed, closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "Oh yeah and Scully," She opened her eyes to see him in the doorway. "Tomorrow *I'm* gonna get myself regressed. Even if you're too scared to face the past, I'm not. It's up to you whether you come with me." He left again. Scully punched the pillow. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

The Offices of Dr. Simon Penderghast Hypnotic Regression Therapist Friday 11:11 

Watching the bright sunlight streamed in through the plastic strips of the venetian blind Scully felt like she was in a bad movie. Mulder was sat in a leather armchair with his eyes closed whilst Dr. Penderghast spoke soothingly to him. Scully wasn't listening to what he was saying, her attention was focused entirely on Mulder's face. Thankfully after he'd left, her sleep had been peaceful and uninterrupted. She'd woken up this morning without a mark on her. 

Scully had no idea how Mulder had fixed his presence here with Skinner. She had already been signed off work for a week by her doctor because of the bizarre incident with the burns the day before. Her doctor had given her some pills to take in addition to the usual ones she was taking. The doctor thought it was connected to her cancer. Scully knew that it wasn't. 

"I want you to go back to the year 1121 and tell me who you are and what you see." Dr. Penderghast said and Scully began to pay attention. Mulder frowned and sighed. 

"My name is Kieron Fox." He said. "My family have a farm in the vale of Embasingstoc in the Norman manor of Basing." "You're a farmer?" "Yes, but when the moon is full I am the Merlin of Circle of Truth. It's the time of the harvest and the Circle is meeting for the festival of praise to the Ancients." "What *is* the Circle of Truth?" Penderghast asked and Mulder laughed. "The Circle is symbol of the power which has existed in the land for all eternity. We preserve the knowledge of the Ancients who built the great stone circle on the Plain." "And the people who make up the Circle?" "We are the Twelve." 

"A jury of twelve." Scully murmured and raised an eyebrow. "Twelve disciples." She mused randomly. 

"Do you know their names?" "I can't say their real names, only they could tell you that." 

"Christian names." Scully muttered to Penderghast. 

"What about their Christian names?" "As I sit in the meeting place by the waterfall, above the valley, Avicia is on my right; she is Scully." 

Scully dipped her head and bit her lip. 

"My sister Anne is next to her; she is Krycek." 

Scully raised her head suddenly to look at him. The truth and Krycek, an odd combination. "Twelve disciples, one Judas." Under her breath. "Next is Matthew; he is Scully's sister, Melissa." 

The air felt jammed out of Scully's lungs. 

"Then John; he is my sister, Samantha." 

The air seemed to grow thinner, starving Scully of oxygen. "Then Maybelle; she is Melissa Reedell." 

Scully felt dizzy. 

"Lea; she is Frohike." 

She felt sick. 

"Megan; she is Langley." 

Scully placed her hand over her mouth, desperately wanting him to stop. 

"William; he is..." Mulder said. 

"Byers." Mulder and Scully said together. 

"Arthur; he is..." Mulder said. 

"Max Fenig." Mulder and Scully said together. 

"Marius; he is Margaret Scully." Mulder said. 

"Mom." Scully said as a sob simultaneously. 

"On my left is Lynsey; she is..." Mulder said. 

"Skinner." Mulder and Scully said together. 

"Are you alright?" Penderghast said aside to Scully. "Should I stop? Do you want to leave?" "No." Scully whispered back. 

"Tell me about the Valley." Penderghast instructed Mulder, who smiled. "The ancient wisdom tells the valley was carved from the chalk hills by the rushing water of the Great Flood, when the frozen winter that had covered the land ended. Now there is only a fast flowing river to remind of the Flood. It enters the valley as a waterfall and leaves by entering an underground grotto, from there it joins other rivers to flow to the sea." 

Scully smiled at the whimsicality of the words. It was like it was a familiar story that he enjoyed telling and she enjoyed hearing. 

"From where the Circle gathers at the waterfall we can see the entire valley. Since the only way to enter is by climbing over the steep hills and making yourself visible to all within, it has been protected from the enemies without, but it is more difficult to stop the enemies within. The powers of the Circle were driven to retreat here by the Holy Men from the East carrying their new religion. We have nothing against the man whom they worship. He was a good and kind man. The Christ was an honoured guest of the Circle when he came with his uncle to speak with us at Avalon, over a 1,000 years ago, but the men who carried his words from the Ancient East back to our shores have forgotten to carry his meaning with them. They persecute the practitioners of the ancient rites and refuse to believe the origins of all our faiths. They're unwilling to hear the truth regarding the men they call Jesus." He paused. "Not all of them are the same, the Christian priest in Embasingstoc is understanding and searches for the true knowledge. His name is Peter; he is Pendrell." 

Scully drew a shaky breath. She was believing Mulder's words at this instant. In her heart she knew them to be true. She couldn't remember the fate of the priest - of Pendrell - but knew there was something bad. 

"Peter understands why we do not wish their Christian church built on the left side of the river. Nothing should be built on the left side or the Gods of the Land and the Sky will be angry. Yet Kingsmill insists that the Chapel of the Trinity be built on left, on the bank above the main settlement." "Kingsmill?" "Matthew Kingsmill, the servant of the Lord of the Manor of Basing. Kingsmill is Cancerman." 

Scully recoiled visibly. The Shadow Man from her dreams. The Cancerman. She closed her eyes. What *was* the question he kept asking? 

"He is drunk on power he doesn't have and sells the names and the souls of his own people into damnation by fire for their beliefs." 

Scully sat forward and put her head into her hands. 

It wasn't true. It wasn't. 

"The Christ will return with the Ancients and the Others to remove vermin such as Kingsmill from the Earth!" 

He spat the words with such vehemence that Scully was compelled to look at him. 

"Kingsmill will attempt to kill Peter, Avicia has foreseen it." 

Scully resisted the urge to laugh at the idea of being someone who predicts the future. 

The thought of Cancerman killing Pendrell stopped all laughter before it even had a chance. 

"Does Avicia often predict the future?" "We all see fragments but Avicia sees the clearest." "Has she made any other predictions?" "She see the break-up of the Circle and 1,000 years of darkness." "That's a dire prediction." "She tells us that genocide, disease and mass destruction will plague the thousand years." 

Scully repeated to herself. She had a ridiculous urge to hum and cover her ears, like a child not wanting to hear something bad. 

"This is fascinating stuff." Dr. Penderghast whispered to Scully and she stared at him. He didn't seem to understand. If Mulder was making this up then he was a total loony tune and in need of powerful anti-psychotic drugs as soon as possible. If he was telling the truth then a past incarnation of herself had believed that she saw a pre-ordained future which encompassed everything bad that had happened in the last 900 odd years. That meant everything from the Crusades to Bosnia, by way of every other war and plague that had taken place. "I could make a career out of this." Penderghast didn't notice her stunned expression and went back to Mulder. "Let's move a few days. What's happening now?" "No, Anne." Mulder said angrily as if he was talking a person. 

Anne is Krycek, Scully remembered. His sister in that life. 

"What's Anne done?" "She wants to leave the Circle. Nobody leaves the Circle, just as nobody joins. We are born and we die and are born. Anne is threatening to expose us to Kingsmill." "Do you let her leave?" "It's not in our power to do that. We were chosen by the Fates and the Ancients." "What does she do?" "She betrays us by marrying Kingsmill in a Christian ceremony." 

Scully couldn't resist the urge to smile at thought of Krycek marrying the Cancerman. 

"Is the Christian ceremony itself a betrayal?" "It is a chain easily broken because it is made by priests and not by the couple. In our belief souls commit themselves for all their lives and not just 'till death'. Avicia and I walked the hills and woodlands alone for a month, living on what we could find and keeping each other warm through the coldest of nights. Our commitment was made through our endurance together of cold and heat, survival and protection." 

Scully bit her lip. 

***End of Part Three 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Avicia (4/5): Skeptic 

"Anne broke the Circle, just as Avicia predicted." Mulder continued. "She ushered in the 1,000 years of darkness with her foolishness. It is by her hand that we are all damned to walk apart, finding only temporary sustenance with each other, until such time as the Circle can be reconciled and re-created." 

Scully thought. 

Besides 1,000 years from 1121 is 2121 and that's still 122 years away from now.> 

Mulder was sure to point out that there were altogether too many 1's and 2's recurring here for it to be a coincidence. 

"Her leaving broke the Circle?" "Anne didn't just break it, she killed it as dead as she could. She told Kingsmill the names of the Twelve." He sucked in a long and tortured breath. "They came for us early in the morning on a bright spring day, denounced us all as witches and put us on trial. Peter wanted to defend us but he was found dead, nailed to a burning cross outside his tiny Chapel by the river." 

Scully looked down at her hands and closed her eyes to hide the pain at the thought; buried alive for hours, disemboweled whilst still alive and then burnt on a cross. Her death had been no where near as bad as that. 

"They had buried him inside a coffin, then pulled him out before he was dead. Cut his abdomen open and scattered his intestines for the birds. Only after that did they nail his body to the cross and set fire to it." 

Scully raised her head and opened her mouth but couldn't find any words. How did she know how Pendrell/Peter had died *before* Mulder said it? 

"Even with Peter's testimony they would have found us guilty. The first stake was set up as soon as the trial was over. They didn't even give me a chance to kiss my Avicia goodbye before they tied her to the scaffold." 

Mulder swallowed with difficulty. To Scully's horror he began crying. She was holding back tears herself. 

"They tied her...to the scaffold...they held my arms so...so..." 

He was rocking slightly as he spoke and the tears fell unchecked on his face. 

"...I couldn't move... I tried... I did try... but I couldn't get loose... I wanted... if we couldn't live together... I wanted us to burn in the same fire... our ashes mixing and... our souls intertwined... but they wouldn't let me... they kept me out of the fire... and all the time... him... Kingsmill... asking the question... over and over..." 

"What question?" Scully whispered too softly for him to hear. The one to which she should have said *yes* but had changed it to *no*, but *what question*? 

"What question?" Penderghast asked him. He may have heard her but Scully wasn't sure. 

"Do you believe." Mulder said. "He asked her if she believed... over and over..." "Believed in what?" Penderghast was obviously confused. 

Scully wasn't confused anymore. She knew what the question meant. She'd always known deep down. Did she believe in the power of the Circle of Truth? Was it real? The same question today would be; did she believe in the paranormal? 

"In the Circle of Truth." Mulder sobbed. "Did she believe in the Circle... in what they called evil... in the way of the land... the energy of the land... in the gift... the second sight... in the herbs we used to heal people... in the Ancients themselves... they called it all evil... dying in fire was supposed to mean damnation... they believed that's what it meant... so did we... they can't destroy your soul unless they burn your body... he said that the fire wouldn't destroy her soul if she repented her sins... if she said that she didn't believe in the Circle... she tried... every time he asked she said yes... yes she *did* believe... but we thought that death by fire meant damnation... I wanted her to say no... so that... we could be together again... we didn't know... she *should* have said yes... but she said no... she said she didn't believe... and she died..." 

The words came out like a tide. Wave after wave swept her under and caused her to doubt but to believe and to be skeptical but to accept it all. Her emotions were so confused that she couldn't remember where she was or what she was doing. She rubbed at her wrists without even thinking, barely noticing the welts that were springing up there. 

"…and I lost my Truth in the flames that day..." 

She felt dizzy and sick and her head was throbbing like a heavy drum beat. But Mulder hadn't finished the story. 

"They kept us out there into the night, made us watch the flames spring up to consume my Avicia, and watch them die down again until there was nothing left but ashes to scatter on the wind. Then they began to build another scaffold and stack it up with wood. The Lord of the Manor didn't know who we were - he didn't understand what we stood for - but Kingsmill did. Evil doesn't change. Similar men killed the Little Fishes for the same reason as he had to kill us. One of the Water Born wrote their leader's words in one of their texts; 'If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to this world it would love you as it's own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you'. That is why the world hates you." 

Mulder repeated the words as a sigh. 

Scully thought. 

"We were chosen but we failed the Ancients, even as the Little Fishes did. We left behind the objects of our belief but the compassion, reality and synchronicity of our belief died with the flames of Avicia's fire. Belief is everything but ashes dissipate on the breeze of time if no one remembers why they practice the rites." 

Scully hung her head. She understood somehow what he meant and yet she had no idea what he was saying. The words seemed wrong, but they felt right. 

"No one remembers us. There is no trace left, not even in our valley." "Did they burn all of you?" "Avicia was the only one they burnt that day." 

Scully forced her mind off the maelstrom whirling inside it and concentrated on his continuing words. She needed to know what had happened then. To know what had happened to people she knew but didn't know. 

"Anne had also watched Avicia burn, it made her see what she had done and she was sorry. She caused a diversion and helped us escape but Kingsmill had been too through for us. Maybelle and I were the only ones who escaped. We couldn't go back for the others. They burnt them together the next day. We were with them in mind and not one of them retracted their belief. They didn't have the reason Avicia had. They were all dying together. They were not alone as she had been." 

She had been alone. 

Scully had no tears left to cry. 

"So that they wouldn't suspect us in the new community we entered, Maybelle and I married in a Christian ceremony. Kingsmill saw clearer than most and he wouldn't expect the betrayal of our belief. Yet in my heart, as Kieron, I was never married to Maybelle - although our marriage did become real as we sought solace with each other. We had a daughter, Rhiannon, an old name for our old beliefs. She was Matthew/Missy." 

Scully suddenly wondered why it hadn't occurred to her before now that there was a massive problem here. 

It was a get out clause. Scully's skeptical mind brought the whole thing to a momentary close. 

She decided. 

"That's when we knew that fire couldn't damn a good soul for it's belief." 

The skeptic was back in the driver's seat but a little voice in her head kept telling her differently now. It was telling her that her argument for all of it *not* being true was that death by fire *does* mean the destruction of the soul. A flimsy and unscientific premise to cling to if ever there was one. She had been believing Mulder's words. In some small part of her, she still was. 

"My Avicia and I would meet again and we did." Mulder continued. "In 1615, we met on a boat to a new world." 

He smiled with the 'remembrance'. Scully smiled too but she wasn't aware that she did so. 

"I had met souls of the Circle before then. By some strangeness of fate, Maybelle was always with me and when met each other we clung. There were so many times it was just the two of us. There were lifetimes without meeting another or just a fleeting contact, misunderstood and lost on the sands of time, visible only with hindsight." 

He sighed and then smiled broadly again. 

"I knew as soon as I saw her. I was Andrew MacClean, off to seek my fortune in the New World of America and I was ready for a wife. She was Dana Scully and she was beautiful to my eyes." 

"Dana Scully?" Penderghast asked, gaping at Scully over his shoulder. Mulder laughed. 

Scully insisted, closing her eyes. 

"I knew she was special the minute I saw her but didn't remember the Circle then. I was head over heels in love with her but she wouldn't have anything to do with me. Very independent was Miss Scully." 

Scully smiled despite herself. 

"She wouldn't let me call her Dana. Except once. It was the only time I kissed her and it was the night before she died. She finally agreed to marry me and, that night, I was asking her father for her hand. Michael Scully scared the stuffing out of me; he is Skinner. Him and his son, Daniel, they looked at me like I was dirt for wanting to marry their Dana but I swore I loved her and they agreed. Then there was a commotion outside and we found out that Dana had fallen over the side and drowned. By the time we got to the Colonies we discovered that she'd been pushed by a man with grudge against me. His name was Thomas Wilkes, his is Cancerman. He was due to be hanged but he escaped to the West and I never saw him again. I married a girl named Maggie Taylor that I meet on the quay, she is Melissa." 

Scully couldn't begin to explain how she felt about the story that Mulder had just told. She didn't remember any of it and it didn't sound remotely familiar. Despite that it affected her in more ways than she thought anything ever could. 

"The next time I saw her I didn't recognise her, not until we died together in a blood soaked field. At that instant, when we died, we knew each other and for awhile we were together above that field. That field where we died. There were so many souls hanging in the air, searching for this world or the next." He swallowed deeply. "I could see Sarah crouching over my body but I could see and feel Avicia in spirit with me. I could have gone back to Sarah. I had the choice. I knew she would be alone without me. There were none of the others near by then and, without me, she was always alone. My guilt was vast but I couldn't go back to her, not when I could see my Avicia waiting for me. I had to go to Avicia." 

Scully was crying openly again. She couldn't help it. She'd thought he'd felt love for Melissa but now he was saying that what he felt was guilt for leaving her alone in that field. For leaving Melissa to be with her. 

...But that wasn't strictly true anymore. 

"We had time in that edge of life place - it's hard to say how much when time means nothing there - but then I didn't see her again until...until Poland, 1919. It's hard to describe, when does a child see their parent and recognise them?" 

Scully closed her eyes as the wave of pain engulfed her. She'd heard at least part of this story before. She knew how it ended. 

"I can see the face, nothing like her, but the eyes...always the same...they tell me who it is. Clear blue with the knowledge of the universe in their depths. My father. My love denied me again by the Fates that have never seemed to give us a chance. Yet for twenty years, the memories are happy. Walking on the arm of my father on a frosty December morning, as we went the house of the man who would be my husband. My wedding day, the unshed tear in my father's eye as I kissed my husband, who is Melissa. Cuddling my son against my breast, recognising him as a kindred soul, John, who is also Samantha. The four of us living together for many years before the new evil came to rip us apart again." 

She just wanted this to end now. That was enough. She didn't need to hear anymore. She touched Penderghast's sleeve. 

"When I recognised the little girl in the cot it was strange, I was too young to even begin to understand. Samantha." 

Scully withdrew her hand and shook her head to dismiss the action. Penderghast frowned but returned his attention to Mulder. Maybe all this needed to be said for Mulder's sanity rather than hers. It didn't matter if it was real or not - as Mulder had said - it *was* cathartic. At least, that's what Scully decided to believe in order to hide her continued curiosity and growing belief. 

"This life?" "Yes, my sister. I knew her and meeting one of the Circle isn't like meeting anyone else. It's like electricity. There's a current if they're in the room. The more of the Circle, the more power, that was why we were chosen by the Ancients. Then she was taken from me by something I couldn't understand. I need her because she is one of the Twelve. I need the Truth." 

"The Circle of Truth." Scully murmured thoughtfully. "I need the truth. I need the Circle of Truth." 

"I couldn't believe what I found when I met a trio of strange men and felt a connection to them. I was especially worried about feeling a connection to Frohike. They were paranoid and strange, even for me, but it felt good to be near them. I was alone for so long." He sighed, then began smiling. "Then suddenly she was there too. The electricity as she walked into the room. The very person I shouldn't trust. The spy. It was just like with Samantha. A zig-zag, jangly sensation that made me want to pace the room. I knew it when I saw her in the light of the projector. Hair like flame, that was my thought, eyes flashing fire. I kept referring to her with fire. In a second I knew that my fear of fire had nothing to do with a house fire. I didn't know how but I knew it was to do with her. I was scared but excited beyond belief." 

Scully watched the grin spread across his face and had to smile too at the memory of that meeting. There had always been something in that lazy smile which had made her smile despite herself. 

"With that power of hindsight again, it seems like a domino effect; Samantha, the Lone Gunmen, Scully, Max Fenig, Skinner, Krycek, Mrs Scully, Melissa Scully, Melissa Reedell. I've met all of the Circle for the first time in one life since the thousand years began, but the Circle still isn't complete." 

He sighed and opened his eyes slowly. "There's nothing else to say really, is there?" He looked directly at Scully. She met his eyes. 

"This is tremendous, *really* tremendous." Penderghast enthused, unaware of the silent communication passing between the couple. "Your story *needs* be told. We'll all be rich." 

Mulder broke the eye contact and leveled his gaze on the grinning doctor. "The story's not for sale." He said flatly. "But..." The grin faded. "To be able to tell anyone about this you'd need a confidentiality waiver from me," Mulder stated threateningly. "and you're not gonna get one." "Surely something of this importance..." "If this story appears anywhere and I do mean *anywhere*, then you'll have the full weight of the law down on your head and I'll make sure that you never practice anything ever again." 

Dr. Penderghast caved in immediately. Without a word passing between them, Mulder and Scully left the office. 

***End of Part Four 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Avicia (5/5): Alien 

Margaret Scully's Residence 21:43 

Mulder pulled the car to a stop outside the house. So far they still hadn't said anything beyond monosyllables. They sat there in silence for a few moments before Mulder shifted to look at her. "I..I'm not sure what to say." He said. Scully smiled depreciatingly and looked up at him. "You seemed to know exactly what to say earlier." She stated sardonically. He looked away. "What are you going to say to her?" He asked. "Nothing about past lives." Scully replied hiding behind the sardonic tone still. "Scully.." He complained. "Mulder, don't!" Scully cut in. "I'm not saying that I don't believe it but I'm not saying that I do." "That's not an answer!" "It's the only one I have." She opened the door and got out. 

Mulder fussed with his seat belt, finally managing to undo it and climb out of the car. "Scully!" He called over the roof. She stopped half way up the path to the door and turned back to face Mulder. "I love you." He blurted in an uncharacteristic display of emotion. "I know." She answered with a smile, then turned and walked away. "I'll call you." She replied over her shoulder. 

Mulder sagged against the car roof and watched as Scully knocked on her mother's front door. The door was opened immediately and Margaret Scully embraced her daughter, waving to Mulder over her shoulder. He waved back, viewing the woman in an different light now having memories of her as a forcefully middle-aged man in peasants rags, a fresh-faced nurse, a little girl with braids and a brave soldier in a cavalry uniform. Scully waved back at him as she went inside and closed the door. 

Mulder shrugged and pulled a wry face, then got back into the car. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

"Mom?" Scully said over the rim of the hot chocolate. "Yes, Dana." Her mother called from the kitchen, from which was also emanating the smell of home-made chocolate muffins. Scully had been trying to broach the topic for half an hour. Determinedly she stood up and headed for the kitchen. Her mother looked up from the bowl she was stirring and smiled broadly as Scully set her cup down on the counter. Scully turned and leant on the counter, watching her stir the cake mix. "I remember when you were small enough to sit on the counter-top." "You always pretended to be cross with me but I knew you weren't really." Scully told her with a smile. Margaret Scully stopped stirring and regarded her daughter. "You know, I think you're still not too big to sit on the counter." Scully laughed. "Is that a joke about my height?" She asked. "You want to ask me something." Her mother countered. "Something you think is important." Scully shrugged. "I just wanted to know if there was a special reason why you called me Dana." She was pleased that it didn't even sound quite like a question. To top it off she leant forwards and stole a fingertip full of the cake mix from the bowl in her mother's arms. Her mother swatted her hand away playfully and Scully dropped her prize into her mouth. "Your father and I thought it suited you." Maggie said as she turned away. "That's the only reason?" Scully was less subtle this time. "You were expecting another one?" Came the rapier quick counter. "No." Scully shrugged, thinking the conversation over. She picked up her cup and drank her hot chocolate. "As a matter of fact there *was* another reason." Her mother continued. Scully lowered the cup and feigned nonchalance with a politely inquiring expression. Maggie put the bowl down and tapped her daughter's sleeve with a single finger. "I have something you should see." 

With a shiver of something she didn't want to identify, Scully recalled Mulder's words the night before. "I want you to listen to this." There was an offer she should have refused and she had the feeling that her mother's was another one of those. Still, she was too curious for her own good. She followed her mother to her bedroom. 

Scully found her mother searching through a cardboard box. Triumphantly she pulled out a faded leather bound book and gestured Scully to sit with her on the bed. "Did your father ever tell you the story about your Great Great - I think that's right - Aunt?" She asked as she flipped through the book. Scully tried to sneak a look and caught only a quick sight of some old photos, drawings and paintings. "No." Scully replied. "I'll just see if I can find the picture first." She said, still searching. "Ah!" She exclaimed. "There!" She handed it to Scully, pointing to an approximately A5 size water colour. "A friend of your Great Grandfather's - I'm sure there should be more greats then that, oh well - he painted that on the boat when they came to this country." 

Scully took the painting and stared at the central figure of the posed group. The woman was dressed in a fitted green velvet dress that looked a little bit faded and worn. Her straight red hair was piled up underneath a matching velvet hat with a long green feather. The artist had drawn particular attention to her blue eyes which sparkled mischievously out of the flat canvas. It was her. "It's amazing, isn't it?" Maggie Scully said. "The resemblance was interesting when you were little but it's stunning now." "Her name was Dana?" Scully asked but knew the answer. The man standing on her left bore more than a passing resemblance to Walter Skinner and the figure on her right looked kind of like Mulder. "Yes, she was Dana Scully." Her mother didn't say anything about the startling similarity of the men to other people she knew and Scully wasn't sure if she was aware of it or not. "She was drowned on the voyage over from Ireland. She'd just got engaged to a young man on the boat." "Andrew MacClean." Scully said absently. There was silence as she stared at the man in the painting who looked like Mulder. The smile clinched it. "You know Dana, I believe in past lives." Maggie Scully said softly. Scully turned her head sharply to look at her. Her mother smiled understandingly. "So did Missy." She added pointedly. "Mom..?" Scully questioned warily. "Dana, the truth is a Circle." She said succinctly, making steady eye contact. "Oh mom! You can't mean…?" Scully exclaimed. "I knew that you knew when you asked about your name." Her mother said softly. "I knew Fox the moment I met him, in your apartment with your blood on his hand. That's why I trusted him with your cross. Then when Walter walked into Missy's hospital room, I knew him too." She smiled sadly. "Why do you think I've been trying to play matchmaker with you and Fox? It's meant to be honey." 

Scully hung her head, as it seemed that she had been doing all day to avoid things. "I know." She whispered, repeating what she told him to his face earlier that evening. "But you still don't really believe it, do you?" Maggie asked and Scully shook her head, biting her lip to stop the tears that were threatening. Her mother sighed. "That's not so strange. It takes a lot to believe in something. If a belief comes too easy Dana, then it usually isn't true. Truth needs to be fought for and that's painful." "And this is true?" Scully asked her. "The Circle of Truth? It was real?" "I believe so," She answered. "and Missy believed it." She squeezed her daughter's hand. "She wanted you to believe it but I told her she couldn't force it. She wanted Fox to believe it too, but he couldn't believe it anymore than you did." "Mulder didn't?" Scully asked incredulously. Maggie smiled. "Mulder doesn't believe as hard as he seems to. He wants to believe Dana, that doesn't mean that he does. He recognised me and Missy when you were 'gone' but he refused to accept us. We understood that your death wouldn't be the end, but he couldn't. Missy dragged him back from the edge of the abyss honey, only one of Us could have, but he still didn't see who she was. Faced with the Circle head on, he still didn't believe." "I want to believe." Scully whispered, then laughed. "I've turned into Mulder!" She added sarcastically. Maggie put an arm around her. "I wish Missy could have seen you as you are right now. She would have been so happy to see you accepting this." "But I'm not accepting. I'm so confused." Scully answered her. "Confusion is the first step towards wisdom. If you've been living with a lie, then the truth must seem alien in order for it to be true." 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

Mulder's Apartment 23:45 

Mulder made the concession of straightening his vest and boxers to cover more appropriately before opening the door of his apartment. He rubbed a hand over her stubble rough jaw and looked down to see Scully standing there. She smiled wryly and shrugged. "Uh, mom thought you might like some muffins." She gestured with a Tupperware box. "Sounds, uh, sounds lovely." He took the box off of her and stepped back to let her come in. 

Scully hurried past, unsure now what she planned on saying to him. Mulder closed the door and put the box down on the table by the door. He watched as she came to stop in the middle of her room and pulled herself together. "How's your mom?" He asked after the silence became awkward. Scully took a deep breath and turned to face him. "She knows." She blurted. "About the Circle. Missy knew too." 

Mulder stood there gaping for a second but recovered quickly. He ran a hand through his hair and pulled confused face. "How did she..?" He asked. Scully smiled wryly. "Mom says that she - and I quote - 'just knew'. Missy was regressed." "How is that your family *always* manages to surprise me." Mulder smiled. "Just when I think you've got no punches left to pull, there's always something." He laughed at the end. "Talking of surprises. She showed me a rather surprising painting." Scully added, pulling it from her purse and handing it to him. 

He looked down at the faded water colour. It was undoubtedly Scully in the centre, as well as him and Skinner standing on opposite sides of her. Standing next to Skinner/Michael Scully was a man he knew to be Daniel Scully but didn't 'recognise' as he did the others. Mulder looked back up at Scully. 

"Is this enough to convince you?" He asked bitterly. "No." She said with a half-smile. "Scully.. what *more* do you need..?" He complained, turning away from her. Scully picked the painting out of his hand and lay it carefully aside. He looked down into her eyes questioningly. "I don't need any more proof." She said into his eyes. "Because I *know* the only truly important thing." She paused to draw it out. "I love Fox Mulder." 

He was happy to hear the words but they didn't mean that she believed and he needed her to believe. She grinned broadly. 

"Just as much as I loved Kieron Fox, the Merlin of the Circle of Truth." She added. There was a tense silence as he searched her eyes for what he needed to see; the truth lost to him in the flames on a spring evening in 1122. He didn't find it because he should have been looking inside himself for that. What he found in her eyes was hope. "Do you believe?" He asked, needing the answer. "Yes." She breathed, then set a skeptical expression on her face that freaked Mulder a little. "Now I just need to make you believe it, don't I?" She stated. To Mulder is seemed a cryptic statement but Scully just followed it with a broad smile. "Kiss me for God's sake. It seems like I've been waiting for 384 years." She told him sardonically, saving his soul. "Yes Miss Scully." He replied. 

And that's exactly what he did. 

XXX 

Post-Script: 

To say that they lived happily ever after would be to make things too easy. 

Scully may well manage to get Mulder to stop wanting to believe and start actually believing in the Circle. In addition, he does still need to find Samantha, the missing member of the Circle. Will knowing that Krycek should be one of them mean that Mulder wont beat him up again? Then there is the problem of the Cancerman, who has already been responsible for Scully's death at least four times in 878 years. And, not wanting to be picky, there are still 122 years left of the 1,000 years of darkness before the Circle is likely to be able to re-form. Anything could happen in that length of time. 

There is also a small matter of an entire story thread of alien invasions, biological warfare, etc., written by other people (and called The X Files) which has singularly little to do with what I have just finished writing and you've just finished reading. But that doesn't matter, does it? 

"Why is this so hard to believe?" Fox Mulder - Terma XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX To understand some sections of this story it would be helpful to read 'The Hiram Key', by Chris Knight and Robert Lomas. I don't agree with all of their book, but I think they may have found some interesting little truths regarding some of our 'lost history' which it could serve us all to consider at least. I think their interpretation may be distorted by their own beliefs but whose isn't (!). Read it and decide for yourselves. I wouldn't presume to tell anyone what to think of it. BTW, I think it's also an arrogant and fairly naïve book. If anyone out there has read it, I would *love* to talk to you about it. Whatever your opinion. Most of this story was written *before* I read the book, make what you will of that. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX DON'T FORGET THE DISCLAIMER! It is out of respect that I put this disclaimer stating that The X Files are the property of Chris Carter. I find it no hardship to do so. I would hope that other writers would grant me the same respect if an idea of mine grew to the same proportions as The X Files. This disclaimer cannot prevent litigation against me, which is okay because that's not why I put it here. Respect must go where it's due. I hope that anyone who reads this understands it's meaning but, whether you do or don't, please feel free to write to me about it. This is not a justification for some of the actions committed by people on Chris Carter's behalf in the suppression of free speech. 


End file.
